


The Worth of One Man

by Winterstar



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Other, Steve Rogers ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 11:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19393540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterstar/pseuds/Winterstar
Summary: Steve Rogers is an old man, who gave up everything for the love of one woman. Or did he?





	The Worth of One Man

**Author's Note:**

> Wink - this is what really happened -

Steve Rogers, old and frail, hands over the shield to a trusted friend. Someone he knows who will pick up the mantle and not be troubled by it. The mantle of Captain America is heavy and burdensome, it is all consuming. Steve Rogers knows this, it is something he would offer as a parting grace. It is something that had to be said at one time or another. Steve Rogers hands over the shield to the best man for the job. He didn’t offer it to Bucky, because he knew it wouldn’t be the right person and he would never load that weight on Bucky’s shoulders. Bucky needs a life time to heal.

Steve Rogers goes home. He sits in his house and he knows he’s done the best he could. There’s nothing else to worry about now. Except that other thing, the truth, the reality of what is happening. He can’t think about that now. He has to remember his family. His spouse, his three children. How they would suffer if he didn’t do what needed to be done. Then he remembers the prison cell. How the prisoner looked, tied, beaten, bruised, and shielded. The force shield kept the prisoner in energy chains and read his mind. It fed all of the pertinent information to the computer. It kept the prison under heavy sedation. The prisoner dreamed. It must be a happy life, in a way, Steve Rogers thought. The prisoner was free to dream an entire lifetime, all his happiness within the cube of the cell. He would be safe and secure and the universe would be safe. Steve Rogers’ family would be safe. That’s how this worked, you see. 

Steve Rogers was old but not immune to threats. He sat in his house and knew he’d saved his family, his friends. That’s all that counted. The prisoner was a casualty of war. Even Steve Rogers knows that people die in wars, that he couldn’t save everyone.

A knock comes on the door and Steve Rogers pushes himself up from the chair. It takes some time, his bones are old. So old. So much older than they should be. He shuffles to the door and opens it. Every movement his body threatens to fall down, to protest. A shaking hand reaches for the door knob. There are age spots there on his parchment like skin. There's a ring signifying his marriage. He smiles. It should mean something. Maybe it does.

He doesn't check to see who is at the door. He isn't in that habit. He opens it. 

They burst through like a battering ram - a force of six Kree warriors. The lead one, Steve Rogers, knows. Yon-Rogg. He grins at Steve Rogers and lifts the gun. 

"It's time for bed, old man."

"You promised."

"Why would I make a promise to you? You're very existence is a lie." Yon-Rogg grins and there are teeth there, so many teeth and so much hatred. 

"You won't get away with it." Maybe Steve Rogers hopes that the new Captain America will jump through a window and save him. Maybe Steve Rogers would hope for that if he'd ever confessed the truth. There are truths and then there are realities. The two do not often cross. 

"Oh yes, we will." Yon-Rogg raises the weapon again and shoots Steve Rogers in the chest. 

The wound is ugly and splits him open. He falls back. He's too old and he's dying now. His hands once papery white, shift and change to greenish gray. His face morphs as he slips down onto the carpeted floor. He feels the shackles of an old man's body fall away and he becomes himself again, not tied to a part, a role he needed to play to save his family. 

Yon-Rogg smiles down at him in his true Skrull form. "It's time for you to die." He shoots again.

As he lies dying the Skrull once known as Steve Rogers thinks about the prisoner, and all that he learned from the prisoner before taking on his life. The prisoner is secure. The prisoner will never see the light of day again. The prisoner dreams a life that he as Steve Rogers could never have. The prisoner will never know his dreams are only fantasies of lives that will never be....


End file.
